A Harry Potter Baby Shower?!? Yes, please.

The lovely Christy and myself are in a fabulous book club.  We started out reading all 7 Harry Potter books last year in time to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Part 2.  (Our latest book club obession is Game of Thrones and the entire Song of Ice and Fire Series by George R. R. Martin, but that is another story for another post).




HPBC Girls at Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2


In our Harry Potter Book Club (HPBC for short), one of our fellow members got pregnant during our reading of the original 7.  As a group, we decided the only option open to us as that point was to throw a Harry Potter themed baby shower for Stef and her little muggle in the oven.  So, Christy, Kim, and I started meeting weekly at our favorite lunchtime restaurant to make plans for our epic event!  Baby showers are NOT my favorite thing and I generally avoid them like the plague.  Our goal was to make this baby shower as fun as possible for everyone, espcially the mother to be!

I know, I know what you are thinking.  How in the world does one throw a Harry Potter baby shower?!?!?  Well, that my dear reader is exactly what I plan on telling you.

Decor, ext:
Invitations:  I used a sample Hogwarts letter and changed the date and time to the date and time of the party.  Kim printed them with paper that looked like parchment and we hand delievered them to our guests. 
Decorations:  Our main decorations were signs that we made and put up around the house, including a "Platform 9 3/4" on the front door and "Moaning Myrtle's Bathroom" just next to the loo.
Guest Arrivals:  When our guests arrived, each of them got a pair of Harry's spectacles (which I bought at Party City with the nose and mustache attactched and just cut them off of the glasses-- they were perfect!).  Also, we gave each guest their very own lighting scar with a black eyeliner pencil.

Food:
Butterbeer:  Non alcoholic of course, made by Christy.
Treacle Tart
Pumpkin Pasties
Snape's Potion:  This is just White Bean Chili in a "cauldron" with several different toppings (cheese, sour cream, cilantro, avacado, etc.) in bowls around the cauldron that people can add to their "potion."
Ramilda Vane's Love Potion:  Since it was October, we wanted to make hot apple cider.  Wr just renamed it something creative!

Games:
The Sorting Hat:  As each guest arrives, tape a 3x5 notecard to their back with the name of a HP character.  We chose fairly obscure characters to make the game interesting, but you could make it easy or as difficult as you want (depending on the age of the guests and their level of knowledge about Harry and his friends).
O.W.L.s:  This game is kind of like Scattergories.  Give all of the guests a peice of paper with each of the letters of the alphabet.  They all have 5 minutes to write down one thing for each letter.  After the 5 minutes is up each player gets one point for every unique answer.  You get double points for alliterations. 
Transfiguration:  Harry Potter charades!  Just write down different HP themed charade things and put them in a bowl.  Divide into teams and act away.  No talking or sound effects :)
Robe Decoration:  In our (only) ode to traditional baby shower games, we had a onsie decorating contest (Harry themed of course).  We bought white onesies in a variety of sizes and fabric markers (they are much easier to use than paint) and let the girls go to town!  Stef picked her favorite as the winner.

Christy and I decided to knit the little muggle a Griffyndor had and scarf so that there was no question of which house he belonged in.  I used the Magic Coffee Baby Hat from Ravelry for my pattern.  I specifically made the newborn size so that he could wear it as soon as possible, since he was due in December.

Christy put together a very fun diaper cake with a hand knitting scarves for mom and baby as well as my hat on top!

This turned out to be the most fun baby shower that I have ever been to!  Stef got some very fun gifts for the baby (including the cutest onsie with SPEW written on it from her sister Kim).